The Magic Lamp
by Angles of Death
Summary: Naruto discovers a magic lamp in his ramen.  What will he do with his three wishes?  A short and sweet oneshot, written to make you happy.


The Magic Lamp

"Itadakimasu!" giggled a very satisfied 6-year-old Uzumaki Naruto as he prepared to gorge down on his miso ramen at the Ichikaru Ramen stand.

With one fell swoop, Naruto grabbed onto the bowl with both his hands, lifted it up high in the air, opened his mouth wide, closed his eyes, and tilted it all in.

Slurp slurp gurgle swallow slurp slurp gurgle swallow slurp slurp gurgle swallow slurp slurp gurgle… 

**_GONG!!!_**

Naruto's eyes shot wide open. "WHAT THE-!" he cried in deep shock and sorrow. "What in the seven seas is this stupid LAMP doing in my NOODLES?" He ranted at everyone nearby. They cowered in fear.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?" asked 15-year-old Ayame, who was deeply concerned with the displeasure of her best customer. Her father was buying supplies, so she was in charge of the stand for the day.

Naruto was just about to whine that there was a dirty LAMP in his noodles, when all of a sudden a voice whispered, "_Stop! Don't tell anyone about me! Hide me and take me home straight away!"_

"Huh?" Naruto looked around wildly, wondering who the heck was whispering to him. "Who are you?!! Where are you?!! Are you in my head?!! GAAAH!!!"

"_You're making a big scene! Geez, you're embarrassing yourself!_" whispered the voice frantically."_I'm a genie, you dumbnut. I'm inside this stupid lamp that I can't get out of unless you rub me three times. But first take me home or somewhere where we can be alone, and then you can free me! Great, now everyone's looking at you."_

Naruto's young mind processed, albeit rather slowly, what the genie had just told him. "Ooohhh…" he smiled. "I get it!"

The rest of the customers and Ayame were looking at him curiously, with sweat drops and wrinkled eyebrows. "Sorry everybody for causing the scene, hehe. I just like talking to myself, ya know, living by myself and having no friends and all. Anyway, I gotta run. Bye Ayame-chan!" Discretely putting the lamp into his orange jumpsuit, Naruto gave a big smile to Ayame, who was practically the only person to ever show him kindness and care.

"Bye Naruto-kun! Please come back tomorrow!" Called Ayame after Naruto as he scurried off. She smiled at his retreating figure. _I'll always look out for you, Naruto-kun, you can count on that._

_ --  
_

Naruto panted tiredly as he had just ran three straight miles from the Ichikaru Ramen Stand to his shabby 2-room apartment. He sighed in relief as he stumbled into his room and fell onto his small bed.

After breathing heavily for a few moments, he calmed down and fished into his pockets. He pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper, a small candy bar, a torn card, an eraser, two marbles, his beloved Gama-chan frog wallet, a small kunai, a few corn chips, and finally…

"The Dirty Lamp!" Naruto joyfully chirped as he held up the lamp with pride.

"Who you callin' a dirty lamp?!!" Yelled an angry voice, which came directly from the lamp.

Naruto glared. "You're dirty! And you was in my noodles!"

The voice sighed. "True, I was in your noodles."

"How did you get there anyway?!!" Naruto asked in a loud voice.

"Shh! Quiet or people will hear you. And I honestly don't know how I got into your noodles!"

"Well next time, stay out of my noodles!" Naruto harrumphed as he crossed his arms, laying against the wall.

The voice sighed again. "Rub me."

"Huh?"

"I said rub me!"

"Eww. I don't wanna touch a dirty lamp like you anymore!"

"Well, if you don't rub me, then I'm going to disappear, and you'll miss out on your three wishes forever." The voice stated matter-of-factly.

Naruto's eyes widened. He had completely forgotten that there was a genie in the lamp!

"Okay!" Naruto's young hands grabbed the lamp and started rubbing it mercilessly.

"Oww! Oof! Gaah! Watch where you're rubbing kid, that's my sensitive spot!" The voice whined. "Now put me down, I'm ready to come out!"

Naruto placed the lamp on the small table next to his bed. A puff of white smoke came out the nose. Then another puff. Then another one. Then they started coming out faster and faster, until it was almost a continuous flow of smoke flowing from the lamp into the room.

"GAAH!" Naruto yelled as he choked on the smoke. The room was full of it! "WHAT ARE YOU DOING -COUGH- YOU'RE MAKING ME -COUGH- CHOKE!" He wheezed and gagged, rolling around the bed taking deep breaths.

Suddenly, the smoke cleared. And then popped up a big blue genie!!!

Naruto stared, eyes bulging and jaw dropping. "You're just like the one in the Aladdin coloring book!"

The genie laughed as he stroked his small black beard. "I _am_ the one in the famous Aladdin stories." He then struck up a grandiose pose. "I am the Conqueror of Fear, the Giver of Hope, the Keeper of Wishes! I am the Great and Powerful Genie the III, beloved across the world and universe! I am the – "

"YEA YEA I get it!" Interrupted Naruto rudely as his six-year-old self was very bored. "You're the all-powerful genie who can grant any three wishes, right?!"

The genie smiled as he flew in front of Naruto. "Yep! Should I give you a dance to prove it? Or perhaps a waltz? A musical? A concert with a full orchestra? A grand Broadway show with dancing girls, flashing lights, and beautiful music? Or perhaps a –"

"YEA YEA I get it!" Interrupted Naruto rudely again.

The genie pouted. "No one likes my introductions anymore. Oh well. Alright kiddo, what are your three wishes?"

Naruto sat upright and scratched his head, thinking. His face had a look of intense concentration, and if one looked into his eyes, they would see the wheels spinning delightfully in his head.

The genie sighed. Did the six-year-old even know what he wanted? He had been opened many times before, and each owner was at least over 20 years of age.

_Then again, it would be a welcome change to see what this kid comes up with_. Thought the genie, as he remembered his past experiences.

One owner, a male, had asked for a mountain of gold, a huge mansion of a house, and a life that lasted 1000 years (The genie wasn't able to grant everlasting life). Another owner, a female, had asked for wings so she could fly, a body of an angel, and again, riches beyond her wildest dreams.

Not all wishes proved to be helpful to their owners, however. Who could forget the pitiful but greedy old miser who wished for a mountain of gold as high as Mt. Everest, a sea of gold as large as the Pacific, and finally, as his third wish and kicker, that everything he touched would be turned to gold? His food, clothing, and even family were all turned to gold, and having used up his three wishes, all he could do was die in hunger while looking sorrowfully onto his "golden" family.

The genie shook his head of such thoughts. Most of his owners became better off after being granted their wishes, so why dwell on the few who hadn't? It would be interesting, however, to see this six-year-old Naruto's three.

Naruto jumped up in the air and grinned widely.

"Master? You have thought of your first wish?"

"Yep!" Nodded the young blonde boy cheerfully. "My first wish is to..."

And so, the first wish in over a millennium was about to be asked and fulfilled…

"Have a mountain of ramen fill and cover my house!!" He shouted loudly.

The genie's jaw dropped to the floor, and then a big wrinkle sprouted on his forehead. "This isn't a JOKE KID. Your wish is my command, are you sure you want… such a petty wish… to be your first??!!"

Naruto looked at him curiously. "Genie-sama… then what do you propose my wish to be?"

The genie sighed and waved his hands around wildly. "I don't know! Get a huge house? Tons of money? A gazillion video games? What do you brats want nowadays anyway?"

Naruto stared at the wildly waving genie. He smiled. "I don't know. I don't have many friends to talk to. In fact I don't have any. I haven't had a conversation this long in my life. But I'll tell you what I want. I want ramen. So please, genie-sama, grant me my first wish."

The genie sighed, and then put his hands together, waving them around in a magical fashion. Beams and dusts of magical essence swirled around the room, as the young Naruto's mouth opened wide at the scene, enchanted.

Soon, cups and bowls and dishes of ramen began to pop up everywhere. Miso, pork, chicken, beef, veggie, BBQ, spicy, sour, fried, stirred, salty, all the kinds of Ramen in the world, appeared and stacked and soon filled the room.

"YAY!!! WOWWWW!!" Exclaimed little Naruto, who had never been so happy in his life. All this ramen would take at least a couple years to finish! His next four years were practically set!

The genie sighed as his vision was covered by all the different ramen containers, which stacked up to the ceiling. "Kid, all this ramen isn't good for you, you know?"

Naruto laughed. "Genie-sama, I know. Ayame-chan always tells me after I've had a few bowls. But you know, I don't really care if ramen is bad for me."

The genie gave Naruto a long look as he put a couple of cups on the table. "And why is that?"

"It's the only joy I have. I love to talk to people, but they don't seem to like me for some reason. I want to make friends and play games, but that's impossible. I like skipping stones and playing solitare, but they aren't too fun. I want to be Hokage, but the Ninja Academy wouldn't let me in. Genie-sama, you can understand right? What it's like to be alone?"

The genie looked down. "The last thousand years I spent in that lamp was torture. I'm stuck in the dark, and I don't do anything except… well… think, and sleep. It's not the most fun thing in the world…"

Naruto nodded. "That's sort of like my life. I'm in the dark, I don't know why people hate me. I have no one to talk to, no one to laugh with, no one to cry and sing and dance with. But I'll tell you what I do have…"

The genie looked into Naruto's eyes and smiled. "What do you have, kid?"

"I have you!! And my second wish is for all these instant ramen cups to be instantly cooked, because the one thing I hate above all else is the three minute waiting period for the ramen to be cooked!!!"

The genie sweatdropped the biggest sweatdrop mankind had ever seen. And what happened to the deep and profound conversation they were having just a few moments ago? What happened to the sharing of their sorrow, the mutual feeling that existed between their two unfortunate circumstances?

_Then again, he is a six-year-old kid._

"As you wish, kid." The genie knew that there was no point in arguing with Naruto, whose bright blue eyes were staring excitedly at the ramen cups.

Waving his hands around magically, the room became a bit hotter as the ramen cups shook and stirred with water that just seemed to appear. Steam started rising out of each ramen cup, and filled the room. The cups themselves stayed put, but one could easily see the lids lifting a bit as the steam freed itself to dance in the air.

Naruto inhaled deeply the rich scent of ramen. No matter what the flavor, the combined one made it simply… heaven.

"Kid, I'll just don't understand you. You're alone and your life is going nowhere, but these three wishes could have been your ticket out of this hole. You could have gotten money, power, and heck, I could have even given you friends. But you just wasted two of those wishes on ramen? Why??"

Smiling, Naruto opened the lid to a miso-flavored ramen cup. "You're a genie, aren't you? Isn't a genie supposed to simply grant wishes and not ask so many questions?"

The genie coughed and sputtered. "Yes… but… you're a curious case… I want to know your reasons…"

Naruto slurped down a large gulp of ramen, and giggled. "I have my reasons. Trust me… it will all become clear with my third wish."

The genie nodded slowly. "Before I let you use your last wish, I just want you to know something. There is one way to free a genie, and that is if the owner wishes for the genie to be free."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"So my point is… kid… would you do this old man a favor… and free him once and for all from this lamp?"

The cup was emptied as Naruto pondered the question. Sure, he could do it, but he had already thought out his third wish. It was for all the ramen to be poured into a giant bowl, and he would be able to feast upon it whenever he wanted. That was his third wish, and it seemed to be a pretty darn good one.

But freeing a genie? Should he do it?

"I don't know, genie-sama. How come none of the previous owners freed you?"

The genie's eyes flashed angrily. "You stupid brat! Of course they wouldn't free me, unlike you, they had goals, they desired more than just stupid ramen, they had three all-powerful wishes and they intended to use them fully, not for some idiotic kiddy goal like you! That's why I'm asking you, because you're an-"

He gasped as he covered his loud mouth with his hand. "I'm sorry kid… I didn't mean it that way…" He couldn't believe his outburst! Why would the kid ever want to listen to him now? What had possessed him to rant like that?

Little Naruto looked at the genie with wide eyes. "You're right, genie-sama. I am an idiot. My whole life is dedicated around ramen. It's always ramen this, ramen that, ramen everything."

The genie simply looked down.

"You know what my goal in life is? It's to become a ramen chef. I want to serve ramen just like the old man Ichikaru and Ayame-chan. I want to open up a ramen stand and sell – no, wait, I mean _give_ out ramen to hungry passerbys. I don't want money, I just want to live the rest of my life for ramen, and for the rest of the world to enjoy ramen."

"You're right in that my goals aren't lofty. They aren't high to any extent. I won't be remembered in history for giving out ramen. But you know what genie-sama? That's what I want. That's what I want to do with my life."

The genie was surprised. Never had he heard of such a goal. Never had he dreamed that there would be a person on this planet who set his goals so low. Was it because he had given up on life, because of the treatment he received? But wouldn't he want something more earthly, like revenge, or a desire to prove himself to the world, to show everybody that Uzumaki Naruto was not someone to mess with?

"Genie-sama, I'm going to free you. I don't know what you'll do after, but I have one request."

The genie's eyes shined with hope as he nodded. "What is that?"

Naruto grinned. "I want all my noodles to be poured into one giant bowl, all of it, I don't care what flavor, what texture, or what style it was cooked in!"

The genie gagged. "But why would you want that? That's just weird!"

The blonde boy stood up and crossed his arms. "It's not weird, genie-sama. I like ramen not because of an individual flavor or the texture of the noodle. I like ramen because it likes me!"

The genie sweatdropped again. "How can an inanimate object have feelings?"

Naruto laughed. "You don't know? Inanimate objects are just like live objects, they just don't move. But when you look at live objects, you feel certain feelings, and you know when that live object, person or animal, has good or bad feelings for you as well."

"Isn't that the same with inanimate objects? I look at ramen with a lot of joy, and well, when I feel the heat rising from the noodles, I can tell, that it must be happy to see me as well. It's just this feeling I get. Some objects radiate coldness and aloofness, but ramen, ramen is always alive and always moving, radiating heat and happiness. And that's why I want all my ramen in one bowl, because with all that ramen together, it just generate a ton of heat and happiness right? I don't think I've ever heard of too much happiness. So if you have a lot of ramen in a bowl compared to just a little, wouldn't you get a lot of happiness as well?"

The genie scratched his head at what Naruto said. How did this kid come up with that theory, he would never know. _Leave it up to six-year-olds and their crazy minds_, thought the genie.

"Alright boy, I will grant your request. It shouldn't be too hard."

Naruto giggled and saluted. "Okey-dokey genie, here I go! Genie-sama, my last wish is for you to become free!"

The genie grinned ear to ear. Free as a bird, free as the moon, free as the day he was born, free as the day he came into existence. The genie didn't need to wave his hands for this wish. Only one miniscule thing happened, and if one wasn't paying apt attention, they would not have noticed the least.

The lamp cracked. A small one, but the priceless artifact that had enchanted the world for millennia had finally cracked. It had finally cracked. It had finally cracked!

The genie roared a cry of extraordinary joy as he whooped and walloped through the air, screaming with tears of joy running down his cheeks. He looked at Naruto, who shyly looked down.

"I may not be as powerful as before, but I certainly have the ability to grant your request… one big, giant, enormous bowl of ramen COMING RIGHT UP!" He boomed loudly, laughing as he waved his hands.

The ramen cups all gathered into the air and poured themselves into a mammoth silver bowl. Flavors of all shapes and sizes mixed and matched, giving off an aroma that changed every passing moment.

"Naruto-sama…" The genie said Naruto's name for the first time since they met. "Thank you."

Naruto laughed. "No problem, genie-sama. Just wondering, where will you go now?"

The genie chuckled as he flew into the air. "I'm going to travel kid. I'm going to travel around the world, and see everything I've always wanted to see."

"And then?"

"Then I'll come back here and help you with your ramen stand. After all, I'd have to pay you back sometime, right?"

Naruto smiled. "No need genie-sama. You've paid me back enough, simply by talking to me like a normal person for the last hour. It was the happiest hour of my life, and it wasn't simply because of the ramen. Now I can live my life knowing that there is at least one being out there, who likes me, and who I am somewhat important to."

"I hope you have a wonderful time traveling, genie-sama. Don't forget about me."

The genie laughed warmly. "Naruto-sama, I will certainly never forget about you."

And with that comment, he disappeared into thin air, a slightly blue shade the only evidence that he was ever there.

Naruto looked at his ramen and smiled. Waves and waves of happiness poured out from the large bowl. "Itadakimasu!" He stated happily as he dug in.


End file.
